Lescott, a 2009 signing from Everton, was a regular in City’s title-winning team in 2012 but has only started seven league games this season and may need first-team football to press his case for a place in England’s World Cup squad.

Tottenham, Newcastle and Monaco are reportedly interested in Lescott, who is out of contract in the summer, but asked whether City have received a bid, Pellegrini replied: “No.”

Although he has not ruled out letting Lescott leave this month, the City manager said he is keen to keep his squad together.

Asked whether he would be allowed to leave now, Pellegrini said: “Not for the moment. Joleon Lescott is a very important player for us. He finishes his contract in June. We will see what happens in the future but for the moment he is still here and he is a very useful player for our club.”

On whether he would allow another club to take Lescott on loan, he replied: “At this moment, we are not considering [that]. We will see in the future during the transfer window what will happen.”

However, Pellegrini is willing to allow Sweden striker John Guidetti -- who has been linked with West Ham, Stoke and Wigan -- to leave for the rest of the season.

He added: “It is true. I think John must go on loan. He is coming back from a long injury for about 18 months Here we have [Edin] Dzeko, [Sergio] Aguero, [Alvaro] Negredo and [Stevan] Jovetic at the moment and maybe he will not play as often as he needs so maybe it is the best for him and the team.”

City go to Blackburn in the FA Cup on Saturday with Jack Rodwell the latest addition to their injury list.

“Sergio Aguero, Martin Demichelis, Micah Richards, Stevan Jovetic and Jack Rodwell [are out],” Pellegrini said. “Rodwell had some problem in his hamstring. We will see how serious it is.”

David Silva, who missed the 3-2 win at Swansea because of suspension, is available again.